I am Yoshida, president of Yamada Shusei Ltd., a professional apparel clothing repair group in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture.
The way to envision a bright future is very different today than it was when I entered the workforce during the transition from the Showa to the Heisei Era.
The importance of vision in management is one of the reasons for the concept of corporate strategy, which developed in the U.S. in the 1960s and spread to Japan in the 1970s and later.
It is said that many companies began to formulate management and action guidelines by clarifying their own visions.
However, when I entered the workforce in 1990, the term "vision" was unfamiliar to me because I was not interested in management.Around me, there was a strong tendency to "follow precedent," and people would say things like, "Get results first, then say something！"or"You can't make a living talking pretty!"
I became a civil servant because I disliked such a social climate, but the world of civil servants is one of "selflessness and devotion," and the basic rule was to devote oneself to public service without allowing personal feelings to get in the way.
Returning to today's topic, the key point in envisioning a bright future is to "not limit yourself by what you can or cannot do! "and, "Draw what is valuable to me! "
For me, both of these things require a "reframing of values," and the most difficult part of being a manager is actually this inner change and growth.
It may seem a bit silly to compare the two, but Shohei Ohtani, who is currently playing in the Major League Baseball, set his future goal of being selected by eight teams in the first round of the draft when he was still a freshman in high school, having never played in the Koshien National High School Baseball Tournament and having no achievements to show for his efforts.
I respect the mentality of a high school freshman who can set such an ambitious goal without fear of being noticed by seniors for being cocky or being dragged down by his peers, even though he has no achievements.
I, too, would like to grow up to be a manager who can proudly envision a future that is valuable to me, without being limited by what I can or cannot do, and without losing to my past self who tended to be shy and only see my feet.
